Factors Influencing Critical Care Nurses’ Attitudes to Patient Safety: A Systematic Review
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Date
2024-09-08
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Publisher
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY, BELFAST
Abstract
Background: Ensuring patient safety continues to be a key aspect in the health
sector. Negligent practices concerning health, hygiene and diet are among the
top killers in modern society. The attitudes and practices of critical care nurses
concerning patient safety culture are of significant importance. Safety culture
refers to the safety beliefs, values and attitudes adopted by health care
providers, as well as the processes of practising them and the dedication to
creating a riskless health care system.
Aim: This systematic review seeks to summarise the attitudes and practices of
critical care nurses towards patient safety in ICUs and their adherence to
international safety goals, and factors that affect their attitudes and practices
towards patient safety practices.
Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in four online
databases – CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed and Scopus – of publications
spanning September 2014 to 2024. The PICo framework was employed in the
formulation of the research question. Specific criteria were set for the inclusion
of studies. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Appraisal
tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS).
Results: Ten studies were included in this systematic review. These studies
employed cross-sectional design to investigate critical care nurses’ attitudes,
perceptions and practices about patient safety, compliance with international
safety goals, and factors that may influence them in critical care settings. In
general, critical care nurses reported significant negativity in safety culture, and
the management perception scores were low overall. Organisational
commitment and job satisfaction had the highest means of positive scores as
did teamwork. Nurses likewise confirmed a perspective of International Patients
Safety Goals (IPSGs) as a reliable framework for patient safety; individual
factors affecting patient safety culture included fatigue, workload and emotional
exhaustion. Nurses aged 31–35 were more knowledgeable about the IPSGs.
Conclusion: The current study reveals that critical care nurses had negative
perception towards safety culture and poor response on the management
support and the implementation of some principles of patient safety. Although
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nurses’ knowledge of specific goals is strong, a number of implementation
challenges remain and thus require focused interventions to enhance safety
culture.
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Keywords
Nurses working in critical care / emergency care / intensive care units., Attitudes, opinions, perspectives, views and thoughts., Patient safety.